RESTRICTED  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  S/C/M/100 
9 November 2010 
 (10-5975) 
Council for Trade in Services  
  
 
REPORT OF THE MEETING HELD ON 30 SEPTEMBER 2010 
 
Note by the Secretariat
1 
  
1. On 30 September 2010, the Council for Trad e in Services held a meeting under the 
Chairmanship of Ambassador Elin Johansen (N orway).  The agenda was contained in document 
WTO/AIR/3614. 
2. The Chairperson
 said that, under Other Business, she would make a short statement regarding 
a letter she had received from Ambassador Badr , Chairperson of the Working Group on Trade and 
Transfer of Technology.  The representative of Australia  said that her delegation wished to add an 
item of Other Business concerning the delayed entr y into force of the certified EC-25 schedule.  
3. The agenda was adopted , as modified. 
A. NOTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TO ARTICLES III:3  AND V:7 OF THE GATS 
4. Starting with the notifications made pursuant to Article III:3 of the GATS, the Chairperson  
drew delegations' attention to the notifications received from:  Nicaragua (documents S/C/N/561 and 
562), China (documents S/C/N/564 to 566) a nd Switzerland (documents S/C/N/567 and 568). 
5. The Council took note  of the notifications made. 
6. The Chairperson subsequently pointed to th e notifications pursuant to GATS Article V:7 
received from the European Union (document S/ C/N/557), the Republic of Korea (documents 
S/C/N/558 and 559) and Brunei Darussalam, Cam bodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the 
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam (document S/C/N/560). 
7. The Council took note  of the notifications, and referred  the agreements notified to the 
Committee on Regional Trade Agreements for consideration. 
B. COMPLIANCE WITH GATS NOT IFICATION REQUIREMENTS  
8. The Chairperson  recalled that, at its previous meeting, the Council had examined the Note by 
the Secretariat updating the statistical account of the notifications made under the relevant GATS 
provision, contained in JOB(09)/10/Rev.2.  
9. The representative of Switzerland  complimented the Members concerned for the notifications 
they had made under GATS Article III:3 under the previous agenda item, including Nicaragua for 
what the representative believed was its first ever not ifications.  He noted that one more Member had 
become more deeply involved  in an issue that was important to his delegation.   
                                                      
1 This document has been prepared under the Secret ariat's own responsibility and without prejudice to 
the positions of Members and to their rights and obligations under the WTO. S/C/M/100 
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  10. He then thanked the Secretariat again for the upda ted statistical account of notifications it had 
produced, noting that progress had b een made.  This concerned not onl y the number of notifications 
received, as that depended on various external factors, but also the participation of more Members in the notification exercise.  A certain amount of expe rience had thus been gathered and it was possible 
that some difficulties had been discovered with regard  to the internal notification processes.  In this 
regard, it might be possible to identify creative solutions.   
11. As a next stage, probably during or shortly be fore the following cluster of services meetings, 
and as a way to breathe new life into the notificatio n process, Switzerland hoped to be able to invite a 
certain number of Members to participate in an open, very informal group, which was open to all 
Members, in order to exchange experiences with no tifications.  His delegation's preference would be 
to approach those Members who had tabled notifica tions recently, in light of the experience they 
would have acquired, as well as others who his dele gation understood were preparing notifications or 
who had planned, but failed, to submit notifications, to understand the difficulties they had faced.  His 
delegation intended to ask these Members if they were interested in sharing their experiences and then 
organise a meeting on the fringes of a services cluster.  The idea would be to discuss the typical 
difficulties that had cropped up and to see how these might be overcome.  Switzerland would 
obviously be contributing its own experience to the group, but it would be up to each Member to draw 
its own conclusions.  The longer-term objective woul d be to discuss, on a more solid and informed 
basis, the concrete proposals that had been made in section V of the Swiss proposal contained in 
document S/C/W/297. 
12. Over the following few weeks, a number of delegations would therefore be receiving a 
message from his delegation inviting them to take part in the group discussions.  Other interested 
delegations should not hesitate to  contact his delegation, as the intention was to create an open 
discussion group.   
13. The representative of the United States
 concurred with Switzerland that getting some clarity 
on notifications might be useful.  He noted that so me of the notifications received did not seem to be 
strictly relevant to trade in services, and that  this undermined the utility of the notification 
requirement.  On a slightly different note, he then drew delegations' attention to the inconsistency that 
seemed to exist in the documents that the Central Re gistry of Notifications (CRN) sent to delegations 
to remind them of their unfulfilled notification oblig ations.  While the wordi ng of the column header 
for the notifications under Article III:3 of the GATS w as clear, as it stated that "in the absence of such 
laws, regulations or administrative guidelines thereof,  no notification is required", the fact that the 
title of the document indicated that "notifications outstanding are marked with X" seemed to imply 
that Members were delinquent in notifying something.  He therefore asked that the Council take note of the issue and that the CRN be approached to clarify it. 
14. A representative of the Secretariat
 thanked the US delegation for having brought the issue to 
the Council's attention.  He concurred that the document sent by the CRN contained some misleading 
wording, and said that the Secretariat would get in touch with the CRN colleagues to provide the 
Council with an answer.  
15. The representative of Switzerland  agreed that it would be useful to get a clarification about 
the CRN reminders.  It would be important to coll ect all proposals on how to improve notifications;  
for example, it had been suggested that notificat ions be submitted on-line .  While he would be 
interested to know what the CRN thinking was with  regard to the reminders, he suggested that 
Members take the opportunity to consider all aspect s relating to notifications in a comprehensive and 
holistic manner in order to have, at the end, a coherent system. 
16. The representative of Canada  said the Council should consider the question whether there was 
a compliance problem with regard to notifications from three separate angles.  First, the degree to  S/C/M/100 
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  which Members had been negatively affected by the present level of notifications.  Second, to 
determine if Members had problems meeting their notif ication obligations and, if so, to explore ways 
to address these.  Third, the appropriate level of notifications, to ensure that Members met the transparency objectives of the exercise.  Canada s uggested that the Council maintain a firm eye on the 
objectives of notifications and on the extent to wh ich Members met their obligations, such that they 
could derive meaningful value-a dded information from the process.  Delegations should strive to 
ensure that efforts to pursue transp arency were more than just about the number of notifications that 
could be made.  Keeping this type of focus would help to ensure that notifications of particular 
relevance to trade in services would remain acces sible to Members and the WTO, and would mitigate 
the risk that they could be lost in a deluge of notifications. 
17. The Chairperson
 said that the Council would take note of the statements and proposals made 
and would revert to them at a later point.  Sh e looked forward to the initiative from Switzerland to 
reinvigorate the process. 
C. SECTORAL AND MODAL DISCUSSIONS  
18. The Chairperson  recalled that, at the meeting held in June 2010, the Council had addressed 
four new Background Notes produced by the Secret ariat on maritime transport services, logistics 
services, accountancy services, and legal services.  As  indicated in the airgram, delegations would 
have an opportunity to revert to those sectors at the end of the discussion of that agenda item.   
19. For the current meeting, the subjects up for discussion were postal and courier services and 
environmental services.  In line with the practice adopt ed at previous meetings, the substantive part of 
the debate under that agenda ite m would be held in informal mode.  The presentations by the 
Secretariat and by international organisations, and the statements of any delegations wishing to place 
their interventions on record would be incorporated in the minutes of the meeting.  For the substantive 
part of Members' informal debate, instead , the Chairperson would produce, under her own 
responsibility, a non-attributable summary.  The su mmary would be circulated shortly after the 
meeting, and subsequently recorded in the minutes of the meeting.   
20. The Chairperson also recalled that the Council ha d agreed that, for the current meeting, the 
Secretariat would invite the Universal Postal Union and, on an ad hoc basis, the OECD, which was 
not observer to the Council, to share with Member s any relevant work they had produced in the 
sectors under discussion. 
21. In line with the practice adopted at previous meetings, she would request these international 
organisations to briefly introduce their contributi ons immediately after the Secretariat had presented 
its own papers, and befo re opening the floor for general discussion.   
1. Postal and courier services (Background No te by the Secretariat, S/C/W/319) 
22. A representative of the Secretariat  introduced the Note.  He indicated that the definition of the 
sector in the Services Sectoral Classification List (MTN.GNS/W/120) was peculiar because the 
distinction between postal and courier services was b ased on the nature of the service provider rather 
than the service itself.  Delivery services provided by the postal entity were postal services, while 
delivery services provided by a courier company, even if identical services, were classified as courier 
services.  The sector formed a key part of the global communications infrastructure, and had high economic and social importance.  It had undergone very important changes over the last decade.  
Private-sector involvement had increased, and both  postal entities and private delivery companies  
were competing in various business segments and expanding in new areas.  Changes had also 
occurred in the way governments were approach ing the sector.  Important reforms had been 
undertaken in various economies, for example reducti ons in the scope of postal monopolies in a good S/C/M/100 
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  number of economies.  Under the GATS, only 54 Members had commitments, mostly limited to 
courier.  The accession process had contributed greatly to the tally of commitments, with 22 of 25 acceding Members undertaking commitments.   Finally, it had to be kept in mind that the Background Note did not focus on all services provided by pos tal entities, for example financial services, but 
solely postal and courier services.   
23. The Chairperson
 indicated that, following the Secretariat's invitation, contributions had been 
received from the Universal Postal Union (UPU) whic h were relevant to the Council's discussion of 
postal and courier services.  These had been made  available in documents JOB/SERV/25 to 28. 
24. The representative of the Universal Postal Union  expressed appreciation for the opportunity 
to address the Council and for the Note prepared by the WTO Secretariat.  The UPU's foremost 
mission was to stimulate the lasting development of efficient and accessible universal postal services 
of quality in order to facilitate communication betwee n the inhabitants of the world by:  guaranteeing 
the free circulation of postal items over a single posta l territory composed of interconnected networks;  
encouraging the adoption of fair common standards and the use of technology;  ensuring cooperation 
and interaction among stakeholders;  promoting ef fective technical cooperation;  and ensuring the 
satisfaction of customers' changing needs.  The UPU was responsible for setting the rules governing 
interconnectivity of international postal services.   Under the Universal Postal Convention, 191 
member countries had to ensure the permanent provi sion of quality and affo rdable universal postal 
services to every citizen at all points in their territory.  It was nonetheless up to each member to define the scope of the universal service and determine the postal services covered by the obligation.  
Universal service was therefore specific to each  member's situation and population needs. 
25. Every four years, the UPU set its strategy to  lead the entire sector.  The World Postal 
Strategy, concluded in 2008 in Geneva, promulgate d a concept of three-dimensional postal network, 
which was "physical", "electronic" and "financi al".  The physical dimension entailed enhancing 
quality of service and efficiency of the postal network; the electronic involved the promotion of information and communication technologies to im prove the postal networ k, and the financial 
dimension aimed at ensuring secure and affordable re mittances services.  With this strategy, the UPU 
organized its activities around three major axes:  de velopment, interconnectivity and governance.  The 
UPU provided technical assistance and development fo r developing countries.  It also had activities 
relating to sustainable development, the environm ent, and addressing – to help more or than 400 
millions of non-addressed people to enjoy a universal postal service.  The UPU also investigated ways 
in which the postal sector could be be tter used for trade facilitation.  
26. The UPU was making continuous efforts to have a transparent, democratic , fast and efficient 
decision-making process involving all stakeholders c oncerned.  For example, the Bucharest Congress 
in 2004 decided to create the Consultative Committ ee as a permanent committee of the UPU.  The 
Committee's membership included non-governmental or ganisations, suppliers of goods and services 
to the postal sector, private operators and other de livery service providers.  The UPU thus provided a 
platform for members and other stakeholders exch ange experiences in light of the changing global 
economic environment.  The UPU also dedicated considerable resources to keeping abreast of developments in the WTO.  The UPU Congress Re solution C9/1999 had instructed the Council of 
Administration and the International Bureau of the UP U to monitor developments in the areas of trade 
in services.  It was in this context that the UP U's "Relations with the WTO Project Team" and the 
International Bureau had constantly in formed members on WTO negotiations.   
27. The UPU pursued the interests of all its member s and sought to ensure that postal services 
responded to the needs of each member's population and level of development.  Future UPU work 
aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of the posta l network by focusing, among other things, on trade 
facilitation, financial inclusion, and quality of ser vice.  The representative emphasized the importance 
for the trade ministry of each WTO Member to cl osely cooperate with its postal authority when  S/C/M/100 
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  addressing postal services in Doha Round, so that all special aspects of the postal services, as well as 
each Member's universal service obligation, could be duly and suffi ciently considered. 
28. The Council  conducted the rest of the discussion in informal mode.  The Chairperson  
produced the following summary of the main points raised (also contained in JOB/SERV/32). 
29. A number of delegations underscored the important  changes that had taken place in the sector, 
especially greater competition, and pointed out that the limited number of GATS commitments did 
not reflect the current market reality.  They al so highlighted the inadeq uacy of the prevailing 
classification of the sector in the W/120.  Delegati ons also welcomed participation by the UPU.   
30. A representative welcomed the revision of the original Background Note, which no longer 
reflected the market situation.  Competition had now  become a worldwide reality in delivery services.  
Her delegation had embarked on a course towards mark et reform 18 years ago.  At the end of this 
year, the majority of Member States (16) would remove any remaining reserved areas, and remaining Member States would follow in two years.  Alread y, some had fully opened their markets.  Such 
liberalization was compatible with ensuring univer sal service;  experience had showed that these 
issues were not at odds.  Rather, universal service formed a fundamental basis of reforms undertaken.  
Liberalization had also taken place in different re gions of the world: almost 20 countries had fully 
liberalized, competition in basic postal services ex isted in more than 150 countries, and parcel 
delivery and express delivery were open to competiti on in most countries.  Despite the fundamental 
changes in market conditions, only 54 WTO Memb ers had commitments on courier and/or postal 
services, of which only 12 on postal services.  Curr ent Doha Round negotiations had not pointed to a 
surge in new commitments.    
31. The representative thought that the old dichotom y between public postal services and private 
courier services was no more.  Public postal operato rs had been required to adapt their business 
outlook to become more efficient and competitive.   Where state-owned monopolies still existed, they 
were now competing in various areas with private courier and express companies.  Members needed to move away from focusing on the nature of the service provider, and accept the fact that many 
activities, including parcel delivery and express de livery, were now carried out under competition by 
private operators as well as operators that  continued to hold monopoly rights.   
32. As regards the Note's mention that there was competition de facto but not de jure in many 
jurisdictions, the representative said that this should not be taken to suggest that private operators 
were illegally stepping into the core business of postal operators.  Rather, these services had 
developed outside the traditional core business of designated postal operators (DPOs);  they consisted 
of value-added services and did not usually amount to  an infringement of the monopoly.  In paragraph 
72, the Note seemed to suggest that there was a need for proper sequencing of regulatory reform and greater competition.  However, redefining universal  service and creating sound regulatory structures 
should not be used as an excuse not to offer commitments.  Universal service did not hinder market opening.  Regulation was important where monopoly  areas were opened to competition, but also 
where the monopolists became active in already co mpetitive areas.  Sound regulatory principles were 
important in such cases, in particular as regards prevention of anti-competitive behaviour, 
transparency for licensing rules, and independence of regulators.  She hoped that discussion of her delegation's proposal for a referenc e paper on postal and courier servi ces could be taken up again.  
Competitive delivery services, including express, had become crucial in global supply chains.  Parcel delivery was increasingly important considering its role  in e-commerce.  But to reap the benefits of 
global markets, suppliers needed legal certainty  and market openness.  This meant ambitious 
commitments under market access and national treat ment, as well as references to regulatory 
principles. S/C/M/100 
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  33. Another representative wished to underline the re lation between trade in services and work in 
other areas of the Doha Development Agenda.  Paragraph 78 of the Note highlighted a problem 
affecting express and courier services, namely dela ys and inefficiencies in relation to customs 
clearance.  This was at the interface of three impor tant facets of WTO work.  First, this obviously 
related to trade in services, but also, second, these problems affected the goods shipped in parcels, 
including in the context of electr onic commerce.  Third, this involve d trade facilitation.  Progress in 
this area would have a beneficial impact on tr ade in goods and also on express suppliers, which 
played a fundamental role in the economy.   
34. A representative thought that the UPU's presentation and documents underscored the 
importance of the regulatory perspective, such as universal services and consumer protection, which 
provided proper context for the discussion of trade as pects.  In reference to proposals made by some 
Members for improved classifications, the represen tative recalled that these negotiating proposals 
would not affect existing commitments based on the W/120 and CPC classification.  Regarding 
paragraph 12 of the Note, she emphasized that ma ny developing countries' DPOs provided certain 
basic delivery services that had the characteristi cs of universal services and public services.  If 
supplied neither on a commercial basis nor in competiti on, they were services supplied in the exercise 
of governmental authority, and therefore outside the scope of the GATS.  With respect to the study on 
ten Asian economies from 1980 to 2005, which was quoted in paragraph 49 of the Note, the 
representative felt that it did not reflect the most cu rrent situation.  Her co untry had continued its 
postal reform in 2007 and the State Postal Bureau  had become an independent regulator.  Further, 
given the difference of population among Members and increasingly diversified postal services, the 
representative did not think that the concept of "average number of le tter-post items posted per 
inhabitant" fully reflected the real story in the postal industry, and more updated information should 
be used if possible.  Finally, unive rsal postal services was as one of the most important priority for the 
sector.   The top four global express delivery comp anies, which were all from developed countries, 
accounted for about 55 percent of the world market .  Fair and competitive market opportunities for 
service suppliers from developing members had to  be kept in mind when negotiating further 
liberalization in the sector. 
35. A representative thought it was important to resolve the issue of classification through 
undertaking new and improved commitments in the cu rrent negotiations.  The prevailing classification 
injected some uncertainty into the meaning of  commitments.  There was a need for regulatory 
oversight so as to ensure a level playing field.  In many markets, postal entities had a monopoly area 
providing them with significant market power, whic h could be applied in various delivery services, 
but also in financial services in countries where postal entities had entered that segment.  Regulatory 
controls were important to ensure that these la rge actors did not have counterproductive effects in 
other markets.    
36. A representative observed that the Note said in  paragraph 17 that her delegation was the only 
one maintaining an MFN exemption in the sector.  However, her delegation's initial services offer in 
the DDA proposed to withdraw the exemption, and she hoped that this could be reflected in the Note.  
Another representative wished to add to the Table on page 31 of the Note by indicating that, in his country, the average number of letter-post items pos ted by inhabitants was 97.  Another delegation 
said that the Note failed to differentiate betw een courier and express delivery services.  A clear 
definition was needed to distinguish the two areas.   
37. A representative emphasized the developments  in information technologies which had 
impacted on the sector, including by stimulating the expansion of express delivery services.  These 
responded to various needs of customers, such as door-to-door delivery.  The growth rate of the 
express delivery industry was higher than that of the world economy, and the sector's expansion was 
playing an important role in the development of logistics services and supply chains.  Liberalization 
was beneficial to developing countri es since it led to more efficient logistics, consequently reducing  S/C/M/100 
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  transport and storage costs, encouraging further in vestments in transport and related infrastructure, 
and producing more employment.   
38. A representative recalled that her delegation ha d signalled in 2008 that it would be willing to 
make an offer in the sector, and hoped that ot hers would also commit to liberalizing the sector, 
particularly the delivery of parcels.  As busin ess and consumers increasingly turned to online 
purchases, more competitive parcel delivery ser vices increased innovation and efficiency, thereby 
reducing costs and improving service quality.  The traditional CPC classifications might not cover all services offered by DPOs and courier companies.   Where competition was allowed outside areas 
reserved for the DPO, it should be on a non-discrimin atory basis.  More could be done to reduce 
barriers in the sector.  The Note highlighted the challenges faced by DPO and the drop in demand for 
some postal services, particularly letters.  This reflected the experience in her country, where the 
volume of domestic letters delivered in 2008-09 fell by  4.1 per cent, and the volume of international 
letters by 12.5 per cent.  Establishing an inde pendent regulator was required in order to prevent 
monopolies from engaging in anti-competitive practi ces outside their reserved areas.  Her country 
maintained a reserved area limite d to letters of 250 grams or less .  But the DPO's operations came 
under the scrutiny of an independent regulator.  The Note raised a number of interesting points about 
gaps in the liberalization of the sector, which had also  been raised in domestic consultations with the 
industry: the uncertainty over transport services commitments in relation to postal and courier services;  the need to apply a whole-of-supply-chain approach to cover the international operations of 
express delivery providers and door-t o-door couriers;  restrictions preventing foreign companies from 
conducting their own pick-up, delivery and cu stoms clearance services;   recognition that, 
notwithstanding the current exclusion of air transpor t from the GATS, air traffic restrictions might act 
as a barrier to courier companies.    
39. On classification, a representative drew atten tion to footnote 4 of the Note, which mentioned 
relevant categories under CPC version 2, where the distinction was made between postal and courier 
services on the basis of whether the services were re ndered under a universal service obligation.  He 
enquired why the sector was treated differently in the CPC than other sectors where universal service 
was relevant, such as electricity or telecommunica tions.  Experts from the relevant organizations 
could provide additional information on this matt er.  He also emphasized the high number of 
commitments undertaken by acceding Members in this sector.   
40. The representative of the Secretariat recalled that the sectoral Notes did not refer to ongoing 
Doha Round negotiations, including offers, which was why the only remaining sector-specific MFN 
exemption was mentioned in the Note.  Regarding th e point raised by a delegation on paragraph 49 of 
the Note, he pointed to footnote 48, which referred specifically to developments that had taken place 
after 2005.  With respect to the distinction between  courier and express delivery services, the lack of 
definitions reflected the peculiar classification used in the CPC, which had been carried over into the 
Services Sectoral Classification List.  The Note pr ovided information on the current classification, and 
it was up to Members to address the issue.   
41. A representative asked whether the text of foot note 48 could be moved into the main text of 
the Note.  The representative of the Secretariat stre ssed that the intention was not to issue revisions to 
the document, but editorial suggestions would be ta ken up in any subsequent publication compiling all 
the Background Notes.   
2. Environmental services (Background Note  by the Secretariat, S/C/W/320) 
42. By way of introduction, a representative of the Secretariat
 noted that that environmental 
services could be divided into two broad categories.  The first referred to traditional 'infrastructure' 
activities such as waste water treatment, refuse coll ection and disposal, or street cleaning, where 
public authorities still had a predominant role.  Th e second category emerged in developed countries S/C/M/100 
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  in the 60s and 70s, and responded to new regulator y requirements regarding air pollution prevention 
and mitigation, and remediation of polluted sites.  These services were supplied mainly on a business-
to-business basis and the main clients were privat e firms needing to comply with environmental 
standards.   
43. Environmental services were often supplied in conjunction with environmental goods and 
tended to represent the predominant element in the p ackage.  It was a sizeable sector, estimated to 
amount to US$653 billion in 2005 and expected to reach US$776 billion in 2010.  The main 
environmental services market segments included solid/hazardous waste services, water services, 
sanitation services, air pollution abatement services, noise abatement services, remediation services, 
and nature & landscape protection services.   
44. The Background Note described the classificati on used by most Members to undertake GATS 
commitments.  He recalled that fifty-nine Me mbers had undertaken commitments on environmental 
services.  The Note also provided a preliminary survey of environmental services commitments 
undertaken in the context of preferential trade agreements (PTAs).   
45. The representative of Costa Rica
 said that his government attached great importance to 
environmental services and that the Background No te provided an excellent basis for further 
discussions on this sector.  He underscored the distin ction in the Note between infrastructure and non-
infrastructure environmental services.  This distinc tion was useful because it helped to identify public 
services with "public good" characteristics a nd allowed to focus discussions on commercial 
environmental services.  The Note explained clearly issues relating to the classification and definition of environmental services in W/120 and the CPC Provisi onal.  In that regard, his delegation noted that 
the CPC Version 2 was more detailed and allowe d to distinguish public services from commercial 
services.   
46. Section VI of the Note provided informati on regarding environmental services in some 
preferential trade agreements, including a number to wh ich Costa Rica was a party.  In the view of his 
delegation, this section, and in pa rticular Annex 5 of the Note, did not reflect correctly the actual 
situation.  While paragraph 112 of the Note stated  that Costa Rica had taken reservations regarding 
environmental services in its PTAs, Annex 5 seemed to ignore this and wrongly gave the impression 
that Costa Rica had assumed full commitments in this  sector, without any reservation, in its PTAs.  
He stressed that Costa Rica had not undertaken fu ll commitments on environmental services in any of 
the PTAs it had signed.  In fact, his government had listed reservations rega rding many environmental 
services, such as treatment of solid waste, treatment of waste water, and nature and landscape 
protection services.  Some of these reservations c oncerned both existing (Annex I) and future  (Annex 
II) measures.  On the other hand, Costa Rica had undertaken preferential co mmitments under mode 1 
regarding environmental consulting, and in some ca ses it had bound existing measures with respect to 
mode 3, indicating, amongst others, that these services  were subject to public monopolies or exclusive 
rights.  His delegation failed to understand the c ontradiction between para graph 112 and Annex 5 and 
stressed that the information concerning Costa Rica in Annex 5 was wrong and should be corrected. 
47. The Council
 conducted the rest of the discussion in informal mode.  The Chairperson  
produced the following summary of the main points raised (also contained in JOB/SERV/32). 
48. It was noted that environmental services, whic h played an important role in pollution 
prevention, were a vital and rapidly evolving sector.  Trade liberalization was not an end in itself and, 
while it was expected to increase prosperity, it also had to contribute to the promotion of sustainable 
development.   
49. Various delegations said that liberalizati on in environmental services markets could 
contribute to improve the availability of state-of-t he-art technologies, services and raw material, and  S/C/M/100 
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  spread technical knowledge, in particular through investment.  A delegation noted that there was an 
interdependence between environmental goods and services and that the latter had an important 
enabling effect on the former.  According to a de legation, the DDA negotiations on liberalisation of 
environmental goods and services aimed to respond to a broad set of environmental challenges, such 
as climate change, energy efficiency, clean water,  sanitation, air pollution, and natural resource 
management, and should ultimately lead to an op en global market for environmental goods, services 
and technologies.  A delegation said that ec onomic growth created tremendous pressure on 
environmental protection and his government viewed it as a priority to create an eco-friendly society;  with that in mind, it had undertaken a high level of commitments in environmental services upon its 
accession to the WTO and, during the 2008 Signalling Conference, had indicated its willingness to 
further liberalize this sector.  Another delegation said that the relationship between environmental 
services and other sectors, such as consulting and engineering, was important and significant commercial interests were at stake in these latter two sectors.  A delegation said that there was an increasing interest for a green economy and little was known about environmental services;  as 
explained in the Background Note, technical advan ces had facilitated the remote supply of many 
services under mode 1, business-to-business transacti ons were growing, environmental services were 
also acquiring a bigger role in developing countries,  and the interrelationshi p between environmental 
services and other sectors was growing.  Another de legation said that, according to the newsletter 
Bridges , from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), the so-called 
green economy was growing rapidly;  she noted that the majority of clean energy jobs would be in installation and maintenance, rather  than in the manufacturing sector, which illustrated well that the 
sector of environmental services in a broad sense, was of crucial importance for the future 
50. Several delegations noted that developing co untries were becoming important actors, as 
importers and exporters, in this sector.  Liberali sation of environmental goods and services facilitated 
the introduction of clean technologies in developi ng Member markets.  A delegation said that 
paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Bac kground Note, which referred to th e evolution of environmental 
services in developing country markets, reflected his own country's experience in this sector:  small- 
and medium-size enterprises were supplying ser vices such as water treatment, consulting and 
engineering and had started to export them. 
51. Various delegations were of the view that th e Note provided a useful analysis of current 
GATS commitments.  It was noted that environm ental services was one of the least-committed 
sectors.  A delegation said that, although it had u ndertaken significant commitments on environmental 
services upon accession to the WTO, it was ready to  make additional efforts in the DDA;  the 
representative encouraged other Members to undertake a high level of commitments in this sector as 
well.  Another delegation, noting that recently  acceded Members had undertaken a proportionally 
higher level of commitments in environmental services, said that it might be difficult to expect further 
contributions from those Members in the DDA negotiations. 
52. The Background Note's observations relating to m ode 1 were highlighted by some, including 
the provision of advisory environmental services and technological progresses which had facilitated 
the remote supply of services in this sector too.  A delegation said that the Note contained a good 
description of the discussion on consulting services;  nevertheless, in his view, there seemed to be a 
contradiction between, on the one hand, paragraphs 53, 54 and 56, which reflected this discussion, 
and, on the other hand, the assumption contained in  paragraph 74 that these consulting services were 
to be considered environmental ser vices.  Another delegation said that  barriers affecting mode 4 in the 
supply of environmental services s hould not be ignored;  the envir onmental services industry in his 
country was of the view that barriers on mode 4 by developed countries seriously restricted business opportunities for developing country Members.  A delegation observed that, in the Background Note, 
regulations were focused on as potential impediments to trade.  While her delegation recognized the 
key importance of ensuring transparency of such re gulations, she wanted to point out that regulations S/C/M/100 
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  could play an important role, both as potential driver s or even prerequisites for the development of 
environmental industries, as shown by several OECD studies. 
53. Several delegations noted that the W/120 classification of environmental services was 
obsolete and should be revised in order to facilitate  the liberalization of environmental services.  It 
was suggested that, in doing so, account should be taken, inter alia , of the emergence of new 
activities.  Some delegations said that it was important to have a common understanding of 
classification.  It was noted that other classification sy stems, in particular the CPC 2, provided a more 
detailed breakdown.  A delegation said that the No te shed light on a range of new environmental 
services.  Various delegations said that the discussion of classification issues contained in the Background Note provided a useful basis for continui ng the discussion.  A delegation drew attention 
to paragraph 50 of the Note whic h listed various sectors having an environmental end-use;  this 
indicated that environmental services were a "mega sector" which had an impact on the environment.  
Several delegations noted that there was flexibility regarding the scheduling of commitments and that 
Members could use the classification system of thei r choice in the negotiations;  hence, classification 
issues should not impede commitments.  Some reca lled that they had used revised classification 
approaches in their own offers.  Noting that two Members had scheduled commitments based on an 
inversion of the headings in the French version of W/120, a delegation asked which one –the heading 
or the CPC reference – would prevail in case of disagreement.   
54. Several delegations noted that the linkages be tween environmental services and other sectors, 
such as energy and engineering services, were gr owing and would deserve fu rther consideration.  
Services outside the environmental services sector as  defined in W/120 might also be useful for the 
protection of the environment; hence it was neces sary to have an open approach.  A delegation 
suggested that it would be useful to discuss cap-and- trade issues and said that paragraph 31(iii) of the 
Doha Declaration required a cl ear cooperation between the Special Sessions of the Committee on 
Trade and Environment and the Council for Trade in Services.  Another delegation agreed that, as 
stated in paragraph 12 of the Background Note, the sector had undergone significant changes over the 
last 20 years, and global environmental challenges, like climate change, and increasing needs in 
developing countries, were fostering demand for new se rvices:  she would therefore have liked to see 
an elaboration on some of these new challenges and resulting needs.  In her view, it would also have 
been interesting if the Note had included more sy stematic references to climate challenges, and to 
efforts to combat climate change;  services involve d in energy efficiency, clean energy, and carbon 
capture technologies were very interesting in this context. 
55. It was noted that, in the environmental servi ces sector, the separation between public / private 
was not clear-cut and the distinction made in th e Note between infrastructure and non-infrastructure 
was useful.  A delegation said that it was not easy to collect statistics on environmental services:  according to its domestic research institutes, most of  the available statistics on environmental services 
came from Environment Business International (EBI).   In the view of this delegation, a better 
harmonisation of definitions and classification at th e international level would help to resolve this 
issue.     
56. Two delegations said that water was a good, no t a service.  One of them noted that the 
Background Note made some efforts to please ever ybody on the sensitive topic of water supply.  
Nevertheless, his delegation was of the view that footnote 11 should state that the choice and 
description of environmental services in section III di d not prejudge "the application of the GATS" 
rather than "Members' discussions on classificati on under the GATS".  He noted that water was 
mentioned in Section III of the Note, which describ ed the main features of environmental services 
markets, but not in Section IV, which discussed the application of the GATS:  in his view, the Note 
should have made a clearer distinction between Se ctions III and IV.  The other delegation said that 
footnote 14 should be in the text itself.  S/C/M/100 
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  57. Several delegations found that the inclusion of a Section on environmental services in PTAs 
was useful as it showed the evolution of the sector  in other trade agreements.  Two delegations said 
that the paper should have drawn the attention to horizontal limitations which had an impact on the 
scope of sectoral commitments.  A delegation said that Annexes IV and V were not comparable 
because the former reflected only GATS commitments  while the latter included commitments and 
offers. 
58. A representative from the Secretariat said that  the Background Note endeavoured to provide a 
balanced discussion on environmental services, but w as not meant as an authoritative piece.  It was an 
attempt to give a broad perspective focusing on trad e-related aspects.  Memb ers might have different 
views and might feel uncomfortable with some point s contained in the Note, but it was difficult to 
please everybody when position were far apart.  He not ed that several delegations would have liked to 
see a more detailed discussion on the relationship between environmental and energy services:  
addressing this issue would have gone beyond the sc ope assigned to this Note, but the Secretariat 
would be ready to further explore it, should delegations so wish. 
3. Sectors discussed at the meeting held on 30 June 2010 (maritim e transport services, 
logistics services, accountancy services and legal services) 
59. No interventions  were made on the sectors that had been discussed at the Council meeting 
held on 30 June 2010.   
4. Further comments 
60. The Chairperson  thanked Members for their contributions.  She recalled that, as agreed, she 
would be producing a summary, under her own res ponsibility, of the main issues raised.  This 
summary (document JOB/SERV/32) would be circulat ed rapidly and subsequently recorded in the 
minutes of the meeting.  The minutes would also cont ain the presentations of the various papers and 
the statements made by representatives of intern ational organisations, as well as interventions that 
delegations had asked to be placed on record.   
61. She said that the Council would revert to this item at its next meeting in November.  She 
recalled that four Secretariat Background Notes we re outstanding, namely on road freight transport 
services, distribution services and engineering services, as well as an update of  the Note entitled "A 
Review of Statistics on Trade Flows in Services", contained in document S/C/W/27/Add.2.   
62. She proposed that the Council discuss two Notes at its November meeting, namely on road 
freight transport services and distribution services,  and the remaining two in February 2011. 
63. It was so agreed . 
64. Concerning the sectors for discussion in November, the OECD and UNECE, which were not 
observers to the Council, had produced relevant and interesting work that they could helpfully share 
with Members.  In line with previously adopt ed practice, she would be inviting them, on an ad hoc  
basis, to the November meeting of the Council to offer their contributions.  Delegations would then 
also be able to revert to the sectors discussed at the current meeting. 
D. OTHER BUSINESS  
65. The Chairperson  informed delegations that, on 13 A ugust, she had received a letter from 
Ambassador Badr, the Chairperson of the Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology, with 
a request to inform him of any discussions, submissi ons and/or other developm ents relating to trade 
and technology transfer that had taken place in the Council for Trade in Services since 2002.  The S/C/M/100 
Page 12  
 
  Working Group had decided to request this information of other WTO bodies and wished to received 
it before its following session, scheduled for 29 October 2010.  
66. She suggested that she reply to Ambassador Badr in the form of a factual letter on any issues 
related to trade and technology transfer that might have arisen in the Council since 2002.  This would 
be without prejudice to the position of any Member on the issue. 
67. It was so agreed
. 
68. The representative of Australia  expressed her delegation's on-goi ng concern about the lengthy 
delay in the entry into force of the certified EC-25 schedule.  She recalled that it had been more than 
three years since the EU had notified the certifi cation of the amended schedule of commitments.  
Australia was one of a number of affected Members with whom compensation arrangements had been 
agreed, but there was still no defined date for entry into force of these arrangements.  This posed both 
systemic and commercial concerns for Australia.  At the previous Council meeting, the EU had 
indicated that 16 Member States had completed their national ratification process.  She urged once again the European Union and its Member States to  expedite the entry into force of the amended 
schedule of commitments, and sought an  update on progress to that end. 
69. The representatives of India
, Canada , Brazil , and Hong Kong, China  echoed the statement 
made by Australia.  
70. The representative of the European Union  indicated that his delegation had taken careful note 
of Members' concerns.  He stressed that the EU's commitment had not been changed yet, that the ratification process was still on-going and at that stage it was difficult to indicate when national 
ratification processes would be concluded.  He i ndicated that the following EU Member States had 
concluded their national ratification process:  Aust ria, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Greece, 
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland,  the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and 
the United Kingdom.  
71. The Council took note
 of the statements made. 
 
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